enhance our mental powers by means of increasingly powerful electronic neuroprostheses. The recognition that any function performed by neurons and synapses can be done better by electronic chips will lead to an ongoing conversion of biological brain into machine mind. We will upload. Once the transfer

The creation of meaning to interpret and communicate perceived phenomena is a fundamental trait of human intelligence. This article explains some major ways in which this is achieved, focusing on language and the perception of embodiment. It examines the representational aspects of natural language, which account for the ambiguity of linguistic signs, and describes how these manifest in metaphor, connotation and emotive expression. The article argues that the human propensity to create meaning lies largely in this representational ambiguity, which underlies all forms of symbolism. However, the ambiguity of natural language has a paradoxical side, since it is also at fault in many shortcomings of human communication, such as misunderstanding and prejudicial stereotyping. This article argues that any attempt to emulate human ways of thinking, for example in Artificial Intelligence research, should take this paradoxical factor into account. He, who through vast immensity can pierce,

The progress of biology, neuroscience and computer science makes it clear that some time during the twenty-first century we will master the technologies of mind and life. We will build machines more intelligent than ourselves, and modify our own brains and bodies to increase our intelligence, live indefinitely and make other changes. We live together according to a social contract, consisting of laws, morals and conventions governing our interactions. This social contract is based on assumptions we rarely question: that all humans have roughly the same intelligence, that we have limited life spans and that we share a set of motives as part of our human nature. The technologies of mind and life will invalidate these assumptions and inevitably change our social contract in fundamental ways. We need to prepare for these new technologies so that they change the world in ways we want rather than just stumbling into a world that we don't. The Technology of Mind Neuroscience is discovering many correlations between the behaviors of physical brains and minds. If brains do not explain minds then these correlations would be coincidences, which is absurd. Furthermore,

? These are some questions raised by Splice (dir. Vincenzo Natali 2010), an intriguing and well-crafted film concerned with artificially produced hybrid life (a warning that this review contains “spoilers”). The story is in many ways a family drama, cast against the background of genetic research and the financial

In recent years, Sam Harris has become a leading figure in the rational scrutiny of religions and religious cultures, earning himself a place as a prominent “New Atheist, ” along with Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. To the extent that the New Atheism is a genuine social movement, Harris deserves much of the credit for it. In 2004, he

There is a general dichotomy in popular culture on the future of robotics and artificial intelligence: the Humans-Against-the-Machines scenario versus the We-Become-Them scenario. The likely scenario is the latter, which is compatible with an optimistic posthuman world. However, the technological and cultural paths to robotic integration still have many problems and pitfalls. This essay focuses on Human Robot Interaction issues that apply to adoption of robots in many aspects of life as well as adoption of robotics into humans themselves. The main message of the essay is that the evolution of intelligent species is dependent on interfaces. Several months ago, on a Sunday afternoon, I set out on a perilous adventure in Harvard Square – mission objective: haircut. The journey ended at the only place open, a hair salon of no distinction. As is typical of the haircutting persuasion, the hairdresser assaulted me with chit chat. I told her that I work for a robot company. “So, do you think robots are going to take over and stuff? ” she said. This saddened me. I informed her that it was far more likely that humans will become robots. This has

Humans have always imagined states of existence different from the ones that they experience in their

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was among the first to give serious consideration to the future of human evolution. His work advocates both biotechnologies (e.g., genetic engineering) and intelligence technologies. He discusses the emergence of a global computationcommunication system (and is said by some to have been the first to have envisioned the Internet). He advocates the development of a global society. Teilhard is almost surely the first to discuss the acceleration of technological progress to a Singularity in which human intelligence will become super-intelligence. He discusses the spread of human intelligence into the universe and its amplification into a cosmic intelligence. More recently, his work has been taken up by Barrow and Tipler; Tipler; Moravec; and Kurzweil. Of course, Teilhard’s Omega Point Theory is deeply Christian, which may be difficult for secular transhumanists. But transhumanism cannot avoid a fateful engagement with Christianity. Christian institutions may support or oppose transhumanism. Since Christianity is an extremely powerful cultural force in the West, it is imperative for transhumanism to engage it carefully. A serious study of Teilhard can help that engagement and will thus be rewarding to both communities. 1.

The cyborg inscribes itself nearly everywhere, forcing us to re-examine discourses of humanity, modernity, Japan, and technology. I will trace the early history of the cyborg, from its hidden roots and precursors in fin de siècle Gothic fiction to its fully formed conception in 1990s science fiction and Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto. I will then move beyond the well-known cyborg genealogy to delve into contemporary portrayals that radically expand the cyborg’s political potential, and posthuman role, through an analysis of Kenji Kamiyama’s Kōkaku Kidōtai Sutando Arōn Konpurekkusu (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex), the 2002-2003 TV series based on Shirō Masamune’s 1989-91 manga Kōkaku Kidōtai (Ghost in the Shell). The cyborg, the automaton, the robot, the ab-human; 1 the monster created by science has a long history in Western and Eastern culture, but this history is one of mutability and hybridity. The figure of the cyborg is continually redefining itself. Standing at the crossroads of multiple genres, politics, temporal and spatial movements, the cyborg is a cipher for the ever-changing relationships between humanity, technology, and politics. Donna J. Haraway’s essay “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and

Reasons and methods for promoting our duty to extend healthy life indefinitely